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October 17, 2008

Air India Mulls Long-Term Leave Option for 15,000 Staff

by Sam Savage

Indian state-owned airline Air India has said that it is mulling voluntary action that will let 15,000 employees go on leave without pay for a period of three to five years, according to the Press Trust of India.

Air India's chief managing director, Raghu Menon, told the Press Trust of India that the airline was planning to offer the voluntary leave without pay package to its employees in a bid to cut costs. Those who choose to take the offer would be taken back at the same pay scale as they were before leaving.

Praful Patel, the Indian civil aviation minister, as quoted by the news source, said: "Air India is not going to have any job cuts. Certainly it the aviation crisis will affect the growth plans, it will affect the future employment opportunities which would have come the way of Air India in case the aviation industry was in a much better financial health."